Biography

Mary M. Boyle developed an interest in composition several years ago while studying voice for a bachelor’s degree at Indiana University, Bloomington. she later moved to Atlanta to sing in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus directed by the late Robert Shaw. During this time, she dabbled in choral arranging at the Westminster Choir College summer workshops with Alice Parker. At the suggestion of Dr. Susan Tepping, Mary entered the Georgia State University graduate program to study composition. There, while she was studying with Dr. Tepping and Dr. Nikitos Demos, several of her works were featured in university music concerts.
Presently working as an organist at St. Benedict Catholic Church in north Fulton County in Georgia, Ms. Boyle did four just-in-time arrangements for the church’s Summer Dinner Theatre program last summer. She also sings in three church choirs as well as the Archdiocesan Festival Chorus and participates in holiday concerts at Atlanta’s Peachtree Christian Church.
Ms. Boyle’s compositions include several choral arrangements, two organ pieces (one with viola and one with two trumpets), a piece for seven percussionists, a string-trio fugue, and Pastorale for string quartet. Her repertoire also includes an Adagio for clarinet and piano, a Study in Blue for tenor saxophone, trumpet, string bass, and piano, and a tone poem based on the legend of Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, for a chamber orchestra of 16 instruments.